I was asked to do this thread by a couple of members(sorry it took so long and I still think there are better people out there for this) if the spelling sucks sorry and the grammars not up to much Im sorry again but you should get the idea .
Why a tropical pond?
If you have the space like a fish room or conservatory why not?
Well number 1 for me is Cost when I bought my cat fish I knew they were going to get large and I knew I would require a large tank for them as I have the luxury of a fish room and the space and after reading about them years ago in a book called Tank Busters I thought the time has come for the MK.1
TYPES
There are several ways to go about this from a performed pond this is nice as has no crease or folds for cleaning no messing about just put it in and fill it up. If you just want that or box it in or as some of our member have done put a window in for viewing.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=657497#post657497
The other is a liner you can make a frame out of bricks railway sleepers and line it with a pond liner the disadvantages of this are the creases in the liner in the corners and if built to high and your brick work sucks you have a wet room and dry fish .
We also have other member using blow up kiddie pools once aging very cheap but no spiky cat fish in those Im afraid.
The next is concrete blocks rendered with cement and treated with a sealant to prevent leaching of live into the water
HEATING
A rough formula for heating a tank is 4.5 watts per Gallon you can double this for a pond in an unheated conservatory and or no lid.
Well once aging it helps to have them in a warm place a nice feature in a glass conservatory or a nice well insulated fish room is a good start for the small pond you can treat them like a large fish tank such as my one just has 2 x 300 W heater in it keeps a stable temperature but I do think a lot of this is helped by the per specs lid. Other ways I have looked into are Koi pond heater see link:
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...vnum=10&hl=en&lr=&cr=countryUK|countryGB&sa=G
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...ter&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&cr=countryUK|countryGB
like any thing Koi they start at a reasonable price and go to very expensive but you do see the deer once crop up second hand on eBay but you take your chances with second hand dont you?
I would however still have the back up of at least 1 300 w heater just encase to goes wrong so at least you can keep some heat in the pond. The good thing about having 2 smaller heaters is if one jams on its not enough to boil your fish but if one fails you have enough to keep it heated.
Insulating the pond helps a lot I insulated my one all round then boarded it in
FILTRATION
Well my one I put a pond filter on it with a UV built in and works fine a friend of mine runs trickle filter over his pond the water is pumped up to the box over the pond it flows through the media and runs out the bottom again back into the pond with the all-important over flow just encase of floods.
I have seen large canister on them as well and once aging just think of it as a large tank.
LIGHTING
Now I ran out of time and money on this but the MK 2 will have 2 under water lights in it that can be switched on for viewing but if your are having light above the pool (this might sound dumb but!) make sure they are secured as if they go in it would be shocking and if strip lights a mesh cover is a good idea as if low fish can jump and smash them.
I hope this has been of some inspiration and help it might not be the bible of indoor ponds but might give you a bit of get up and go to build one your self a few of our member ponds are shown in the link below I believe
Super cheap blow up pond by Rottbo
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33402
Miles ray pond
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23499
And finally the man that gave me the kick up the ass I needed to get my one out of the garden and fitted necrocanis a simple 6ft dia cattle tub bought from the local farm supply store
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7610&page=2
All comments welcome good or bad and any more links to help people out please add.
I will say if your fish jump put a lid on it but this can cause condensation do not make the edging out of wood as you have to treat it or spend ages wiping it down use UPVC. I know I didnt.
As I said at the start this is not a manual just some inspiration. (I hope)
last of all some pics of my one from sitting in the Garden to up and running
Why a tropical pond?
If you have the space like a fish room or conservatory why not?
Well number 1 for me is Cost when I bought my cat fish I knew they were going to get large and I knew I would require a large tank for them as I have the luxury of a fish room and the space and after reading about them years ago in a book called Tank Busters I thought the time has come for the MK.1
TYPES
There are several ways to go about this from a performed pond this is nice as has no crease or folds for cleaning no messing about just put it in and fill it up. If you just want that or box it in or as some of our member have done put a window in for viewing.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=657497#post657497
The other is a liner you can make a frame out of bricks railway sleepers and line it with a pond liner the disadvantages of this are the creases in the liner in the corners and if built to high and your brick work sucks you have a wet room and dry fish .
We also have other member using blow up kiddie pools once aging very cheap but no spiky cat fish in those Im afraid.
The next is concrete blocks rendered with cement and treated with a sealant to prevent leaching of live into the water
HEATING
A rough formula for heating a tank is 4.5 watts per Gallon you can double this for a pond in an unheated conservatory and or no lid.
Well once aging it helps to have them in a warm place a nice feature in a glass conservatory or a nice well insulated fish room is a good start for the small pond you can treat them like a large fish tank such as my one just has 2 x 300 W heater in it keeps a stable temperature but I do think a lot of this is helped by the per specs lid. Other ways I have looked into are Koi pond heater see link:
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...vnum=10&hl=en&lr=&cr=countryUK|countryGB&sa=G
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...ter&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&cr=countryUK|countryGB
like any thing Koi they start at a reasonable price and go to very expensive but you do see the deer once crop up second hand on eBay but you take your chances with second hand dont you?
I would however still have the back up of at least 1 300 w heater just encase to goes wrong so at least you can keep some heat in the pond. The good thing about having 2 smaller heaters is if one jams on its not enough to boil your fish but if one fails you have enough to keep it heated.
Insulating the pond helps a lot I insulated my one all round then boarded it in
FILTRATION
Well my one I put a pond filter on it with a UV built in and works fine a friend of mine runs trickle filter over his pond the water is pumped up to the box over the pond it flows through the media and runs out the bottom again back into the pond with the all-important over flow just encase of floods.
I have seen large canister on them as well and once aging just think of it as a large tank.
LIGHTING
Now I ran out of time and money on this but the MK 2 will have 2 under water lights in it that can be switched on for viewing but if your are having light above the pool (this might sound dumb but!) make sure they are secured as if they go in it would be shocking and if strip lights a mesh cover is a good idea as if low fish can jump and smash them.
I hope this has been of some inspiration and help it might not be the bible of indoor ponds but might give you a bit of get up and go to build one your self a few of our member ponds are shown in the link below I believe
Super cheap blow up pond by Rottbo
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33402
Miles ray pond
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23499
And finally the man that gave me the kick up the ass I needed to get my one out of the garden and fitted necrocanis a simple 6ft dia cattle tub bought from the local farm supply store
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7610&page=2
All comments welcome good or bad and any more links to help people out please add.
I will say if your fish jump put a lid on it but this can cause condensation do not make the edging out of wood as you have to treat it or spend ages wiping it down use UPVC. I know I didnt.
As I said at the start this is not a manual just some inspiration. (I hope)
last of all some pics of my one from sitting in the Garden to up and running